Thom Ritter George

CONCERTO FOR HORN, CN 358

PROGRAM NOTES

When writing a Concerto for Horn, a composer has some powerful masters looking over his shoulder.  Mozart wrote four horn concertos, all a part of the standard repertoire.  Richard Strauss, the son of the important horn player Franz Strauss, wrote two horn concertos, one early in his career and one late.  The individual horn concertos of Telemann, Haydn, Weber, Gliere, and Hindemith have to be considered along with the outstanding horn and orchestra works of Schumann, Saint-Saens, Dukas, Britten, and Warren Benson.

Thom Ritter George began work on his Concerto for Horn in July 2006 and completed the composition in March 2007.  It is scored for solo horn, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.

The composer reviewed the horn concertos of the masters, mainly to once again get the sound of the instrument "in the ear."  It is important to have a clear idea of what works well and what does not.  The new concerto, however, could not simply be a variation of an older, successful concerto.  A new plan would be needed.

The first movement ("Fanfares") involves the accompaniment by the winds and timpani only.  Because it is without strings, the sonority of the music is cool.  The woodwinds, often soft, evoke the feeling of distant fanfares, while the more forceful brass call forth more immediate fanfare ideas.  The form is a collection of fanfare statements, rather than the usual sonata-allegro form used in many concertos.  The solo horn plays fanfare music itself or sometimes comments on the themes heard in the orchestra.

The second movement is based on an old lament about lost love, "Oh, waillie! waillie!"  It is a part of our folk song heritage and is full of feeling and sentiment.  The song text reads:

   When cockle shells turn to silver bells,
   Then will my love return to me.
   When roses blow, in wintry snow,
   Then will my love return to me.
   Oh, waillie! waillie!
   But love is bonnie
   A little while when it is new!
   But it grows old and waxeth cold,
   And fades away like evening dew.

Here, the solo horn begins alone.  Then, the strings enter and take up the melody.  After a contrasting recitativo section, the horn again plays the theme, this time accompanied by soft strings.

The third movement is a "Rondo," an old form concerned more with statement than thematic development.  In a rondo, distinct themes are contrasted with each other by putting them one after another with a minimum of transition material.  To understand the form, the themes are commonly assigned letters.  A recurrent "A" theme binds the music together.  The form of the classic rondo is "ABACABA plus an optional coda," and that is exactly the form used in the third movement of this concerto.

But beyond technical considerations, rondos are fast and playful.  The happy mood and extroverted solo writing bring the whole concerto to a joyous close.

The first performance of the score was given on April 18, 2007, by Alexander George, horn, and the Idaho State Civic Symphony conducted by Thom Ritter George.

(TRGcm: 2007.03.31)